Pocket Wizards

I am on the verge of getting some studio lights, am looking at the Digi Bee package with a set of the 800 lights. I have decided on a Sekonic L358 light meter based on recommendations from this board (thank you to everyone) .

I have also read that Pocket Wizards are the way to go. My question is, what would I need to buy to make the 2 light AB system work with my Canon D60? Do I need to get 2 receivers and one transmitter? I have never used studio lights before and am a little confused. If anyone could help point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim

minatophase3 wrote:
I have decided on a Sekonic L358 light meter based on recommendations from this board (thank you to everyone) .

- That's the exact same flash meter I was looking at. Can you link me to the thread with recommendations?

Thanks

FlipsidE

The Bees have a built-in optical slave, so you just need 1 transmitter and 1 receiver to trigger the first bee. The second bee will be triggered off of the first.

- Would it be the same with the third light also?

FlipsidE

Yes.

The only time you need more then one receiver is if you are working in an area where another photographer's flash would set off your slaves. Then you would need a receiver for each strobe.

When you buy the Sekonic L358, make sure you get the Pocket Wizard module for $25 that lets you fire your strobes for metering wirelessly.
Scott

Thanks Scott, good idea. I just looked at the B&H site and see that they have the Pocketwizard Plus set with one transmitter and one receiver for $325, would I need to get anything else or would this setup work? I assume I would hook the transmitter to the D60 where the flash would normally go...Where would the receiver go?

Thanks again.
Tim

If I'm not mistaken, the sync jack on the Bees is a miniphone jack. So, all you need is a miniphone to miniphone cord. You can pick up one in any store that stocks stereo cables, like Radio Shack.

Get the $25 Module for the L358.
Scott

2 things to note on this set up. I found the flash-pocket wizard cord needs to be a 1/8 mono to 1/8 mono cord. The stereo cords don't seem to bridge the contacts well enough. Radio shack cords are about $3.

I also ran into a condition where the flash from one light (with softbox attached) could not fire the hair light. It was a matter of orientation. I ended up getting a 2nd receiver to solve that problem.

The ABs with pocket wizards are a joy to use. You will be very happy with this setup.

Scott

I love the pocket wizards and my white lightnings. I also found a clamp for putting them on a lightstand which is" the cat's meow".
Look at Amvona.com Look under lighting accessories. It is called a Universal Clamp. You get two for $18 and they are made like "L" lenses. I use them with my Pocket Wizards.

- This is what I was concerned about. This is exactly why I was asking about the third light also. I could easily see the main being able to trigger the fill. But, the hair light could be an issue. Thanks for the info.

FlipsidE

The only time I had trouble firing an extra pack was due to distance from subject (trying to light up a huge hall). I don't see why a hairlight pack would cause any trouble in a close environment, unless you're shooting wide open with plenty of ambient light.

GO CARDS!

While we have some Pocket Wizards users here I have a couple of questions.
1: Can you fire a Canon 20D and the 550 EX at the same time?
2: How is the PW connected to the camera? Can you mount the receiver in the hot shoe?

What I would like to do is set up a blind with the 20D and two 550EX and fire them remotely. It appears I would need two receivers, one for the camera, and one for the 550 master using the second 550 as a slave.
How close is my thinking?
Thanks

Not with one receiver. PocketWizard does not recommend it. And for good reason. The camera always has a delay before releasing the shutter, so with a single receiver the flash would always trigger before the shutter could open. You need two receiver/transmitter pairs. One to trigger the camera and one to trigger the flash.

While the receiver can be mounted in the hot shoe of the camera, the shoe mount on the receiver is cold: there's no connection. The receiver needs to be connected to the N3 connector on the side of the camera, where a cable release normally goes. To connect the receiver to the camera, you need to use either a PocketWizard motor-drive cable or a pre-trigger cable. The difference is that the pre-trigger cable can simulate a half-press of the shutter button and eliminate the autofocus delay. The cables are pricy, to say the least. I believe you can get slightly cheaper cables from Paramount Cords.

As mentioned above, you would not only need two receivers but also two transmitters. One transmitter would be connected to either the camera's hotshoe or the camera's PC sync port. The other tansmitter would be used to trigger to whole shebang. If you have a Sekonic lightmeter with the optional PocketWizard radio transmitter module, you can use it as the second transmitter.

The above applies to PocketWizard Plus units. You might be able to use a single PocketWizard MultiMAX receiver to trigger a camera and flash. This may be possible because a delay can be programmed between the triggering of the MultiMAX's two ports. You would have to know the camera's delay and the delay would have to be consistent. I've never done this, so I don't know if it's really possible.